Jamal and viral grandma, Wanda Dench, opted to reunite over Instagram Dwell this yr, following Dench’s breast most cancers analysis.
Wanda Dench and Jamal Hinton are celebrating Thanksgiving aside for the primary time in 9 years.
The previous strangers, who met eight years in the past in a mistaken textual content message change, reunited to for Turkey Day — and issues seemed just a little totally different this yr.
Dench joined Hinton and his household on Instagram Dwell as a substitute, amid her continued battle with breast most cancers.
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The Thanksgiving celebration comes only one month after Dench revealed in a message shared to Hinton’s Instagram and social media pages that she had been identified with breast most cancers.
Whereas reflecting on their sudden friendship and the way it has positively formed their lives, Dench shared {that a} CT scan for bronchitis uncovered a mass in her breast, resulting in a analysis of breast most cancers after additional testing.
Dench additionally shared her shock over the analysis, noting that most cancers does not run in her household and her earlier mammograms had been at all times clear.
“In 2022 I turned 65 years outdated and I believed I’d have my final mammogram and never have to consider it once more. However I used to be flawed,” she wrote within the message shared to Hinton’s socials.
Viral Grandma Wanda Dench and Jamal Hinton Spend eighth Thanksgiving Collectively
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Whereas the analysis initially shocked her, Dench mentioned she’s been linked with “great individuals” all through her remedy. She additionally urged others to make common checkups a precedence, and to cherish life.
“I’ve realized loads of life’s classes by way of all of it, however what I wish to stress most of all is simply because chances are you’ll be older, we nonetheless have a life to stay,” she wrote within the Oct. 16 put up. “So proceed getting your checkups, and proceed to stay YOUR life!”
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Hinton teased the reunion in a put up Monday, sharing a collage of photographs of him and Dench through the years, writing within the caption, “Excited to announce that I am internet hosting Thanksgiving this yr for Wanda and I! 🦃✨ Trying ahead to a day crammed with good meals, nice firm, and lasting reminiscences. Yr 9 coming quickly!🖤”
The pair’s unanticipated friendship started in 2016, after Hinton acquired a Thanksgiving textual content from Dench meant for her household. After confirming the error, Hinton lightheartedly requested if he might nonetheless be part of Dench for dinner, to which Dench replied, “In fact you may. That is what grandmas do … feed everybody.”
Hinton and Dench rapidly grew to become associates and their story subsequently went viral, with the pair spending each Thanksgiving collectively since.
They’ve additionally weathered some hardships alongside the best way, together with the loss of life of Dench’s husband, Lonnie in 2020, who died after struggling issues from COVID-19.
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In 2021, Netflix introduced it might make a movie, The Thanksgiving Textual content, about their distinctive bond.
Although the movie has but to drop, the streamer says the film will spotlight their deep friendship, regardless of their variations, and their unlikely connection, all because of the textual content mix-up.
“We hope it conjures up extra individuals to achieve out and make connections that they would not ordinarily make,” Hinton and Dench mentioned in an announcement shared by Netflix on the time. “We’re so blessed to discover a real friendship introduced collectively by God from a mistaken textual content message.”
